Breathless Minutes
by Kloklo
Summary: A humorous and a bit bitter-sweet perspective of a busy Friday. Breathless Minutes and Under Breath. One story taken from two different POVs in order for the one to complete the other. Set 2-3 months after the SR and is loosely connected to my KB universe.


I was so happy to find that two more oneshots had made it in the same HDD. I haven't changed much but although some might not agree I love this piece and its brother piece as much as the day I wrote them. Perhaps I have a soft spot for the second one though.

This is a FF which happens before Keep Breathing but can easily stand alone. It deals with a day as described from start to finish from both Lois and Clark. Superman rescues are not included as I wanted to write mostly in a setting I love dearly from the series. The Daily Planet.

Companion to Under-Breath

As originally conceived the two oneshots will not be posted under the same story but separately.

Words: 2459

_**Breathless Minutes**_

It happens every morning!

The alarm starts screaming for the day to start and I ask for a few more minutes. Minutes to stop thinking what happened in my life these past few months. Eventually, I get those precious minutes while I try to come up with an excuse, anything which will could stop me from getting to the office today. Anything believable that is. It's the 73rd day that nothing seems to be good enough, believable enough. So dejected once again I get up and head to the bathroom. As always I trip over the rug's edge which is next to my bed and this does the trick better than any cold shower or hot cup of coffee ever could. I curse myself, _as always_, hoping that Jason will not hear me from his room's open door.

In less than an hour I'm ready for work and Jason is watching the latest Superman's rescues on Tv. He is fond of that man, dressed like a toddler with extravagant addition that red cape and how can he not be? Sometimes I think that he knows but I'm just fooling myself. He is just a five year-old boy who desperately needs a father figure. I can do nothing about it. I can't make Richard come back or the Fly boy land on Earth. At least one of them keeps contact with my baby. Though that one is not who I would have wanted.

I clean up the kitchen's counter while I finish my second cup of now black coffee and as usual send Jason upstairs to change for school. With all those rescues, half of my son's breakfast ends up on his lap leading to a reversed morning schedule where breakfast comes before actually being dressed for the day.

We are talking about ironed clothes! I don't know how to iron, cook or organise my life '-…_at this point_'. Jason's ironed shirts are lessening day by day since Richard left and honestly I don't know where to find a cleaning lady to handle the task… and me yet.

I glance the counter's clock and I know that I will be late again. I also know that Jason will be ready in less than five so the sun is greeting me as we run towards the car. This is going to be a good day, I hope! Today I might even find the pair of my heels, which I lost yesterday morning when my son and I were once again practicing, _although_ _unwillingly,_ our stamina on track. Apparently, if you don't I fnd time to exercise, time will find some for you. As for that heel I can only make a mental note until I get to work and write it heel has to be found and be retrieved from somewhere around my lawn this evening. A quick scan of the overgrown lawn makes me postpone the search until the weekend.

Finally, we are in front of the car and I know that something isn't right. The car is here, I have Jason's bag and my laptop. But where is Jason? '_Oh, Sh***! I locked him in?' _I run back to the house and when I open the front door, Jason is waiting for me simply smiling and holding the car keys in the air for me to take. I love that smile and- 8:40?

I'm in the car and in order to drive I change my brown heels to a pair of filthy white sneakers. The car is roaring when I push the gas and Jason is at his school in 15 minutes. I push the gas again only to stuck in the morning's traffic mere minutes later. I curse under my breath and leave the car 5 blocks away from the Planet's building. This track practice seems to become a habit of mine these days and I see the corner's police officer smiling for the 5th time this week. Well, it's Friday that explains it! I so want to punch him and I slow down smirking to the idea, but then I remember a certain little boy who will be waiting his mother at 4 to pick him up so regretfully I speed up again.

I scream to catch the elevator and once again my Mad Dog Lane charm is working. I see them shocked and I can't stop myself from saying "I'm a Hot mama, the Pulitzer winner is a plus " as the doors open I leave them thunderstruck. Instantly I meet Perry's eyes from across the bulletin and he knows I'm fnally here but he doesn't bother to yell.

'_That's odd!'_

I sit at my desk slowly testing the waters and I'm ready for an other grand expose, yet first comes the coffee. It's funny because Kent brings me my coffee every morning for the last few weeks. He got Richard's newsroom Lane tasks but didn't lost his Clarkiness. That's good! Come to think of it Clark had silently assumed that post long before Richard ever existed in my life. There was always a cup of coffee in my hands, a good word, compassion and a smile for me and that's all it takes to make my day. But today there is no a cup in my hands or a Clark hunched over his desk. Weird.

Getting up to take my third cup everything seem, well, taller. I start to fill my _N#1 Reporter_ cup with my life's basic ingredient when I feel someone's fleeting touch brushing my lower back. I don't like to be touched, then again it was just for a second so whoever was better not try my limits today. I hear the voice I was waiting since I woke up and I forget completely the touching part.

He mumbles something about work and sorry. He reminds me so much my child. It might be the fact that Clark's demeanour always screamed innocence. I don't really listen him but unexpectedly he has a calming effect over me. I notice that he is taller than usual or am I shorter today? _'Shrinking? Nah!'_ He looks down adjusting his glasses and grins. I curiously follow his eyes downwards to see what is so funny. Yeah, I have legs and... sneakers?

I feel my neck getting warmer and the feeling spreads to my cheeks. I really don't know why I'm blushing! I forgot to change shoes. The story of my life the last few days.

"Charming" he says softly with twinkling eyes and I turn quickly when hear Perry yelling. It wasn't a sarcastic comment but a blunt one. A comment so unlikely to have come out from my former partner's mouth. His head snaps to Perry's direction and I know that he is calling for him, he gives me one more smile, apologetic this time and I know that it's just another day at work nothing more and it's fine with me.

'_Liar!'_

The hours are passing quicker than I ever thought they would today. I have a deadline to catch and I my writer's block doesn't help. I'm trying to write a sentence for the past half an hour. I see that demon possesed clock on the wall and now downs me the reason or better the excuse of why I didn't want to leave my bed this morning. It's almost noon and I feel my stomach protesting to my intension not to eat until I get back home. It's almost five and I have to finish just two paragraph take Jason and...

'FIVE?'

For the third time today I swear loudly and Jimmy is paying the price of my outburst. His camera almost touch the ground when a familiar hand catches it mid air. I don't have the time to apologise, I just run to the elevator and I thank God for not changing my shoes to heels this morning. I push the button over and over again because that will make this damn thing go faster if I do. At least I hope it would. The doors open and now my intention is to go down as fast as I can. I should have taken the stairs! And then I wonder if I start jumping will it take me down quicker or I will just be stuck inside this freaking box? Again, I don't take any chances.

I did it once 2 weeks ago... the janitor thinks it's a personal vendetta now.

I hear someone calling my name and I see Clark's hand stop the doors from closing. Now I'm mad. My suspicions were right after all, he is a boy with glimpses of a reporter from time to time. Then again no, now he is something totally different. He is a dead man walking!

He looks at me straight in the eyes and I know that he sees my face changing colour. He knows that this is his last day on Earth yet he smiles and points the conference's office where a wide-eyed child is now watching me through the glass. My throat suddenly feels sore making my attempts to speak to be lamely unsuccessful.

"Oops?" he offers .

"Yeah, oops." I never admit my mistakes in words. That's a rule! However it's a nice day to break one.

'_That's definitely Kent's fault!'_

I wave to my little boy and he smiles. God, I don't deserve him. Mentally I stop calling him Clark as it might slip and he becomes Kent again for the next hour. Kent gives me a reassuring smile that everything will be okay. That sooner or later will all fall into place but something tells me that he also doesn't know how or when.

'_God, let it be soon.' _I ask him to keep an eye on Jason until I finish the article which was supposed to be sent to the Chief an hour ago. He just nods and walks behind me back in the conference room.

And its over! Right click to *send* and this day will be over. My eyes leave the computer's screen for the first time in a long while to look around the newsroom. Most of the stuff is already gone and the international channels fill her briefly over today's heroic rescues. He was here, there, up, down. Fire, forest, plane, car. Where he was needed the most. Needed the most. Needed. Need.

_Sigh_.

*Click*

Time to go home. I stretch my arms in the air and look over Clark's office. The only light comes from his computer screen but he isn't focused on it. He is looking the small sleeping bundle on his small couch. Hands tightly clenched together are touching his lips. He seems so tired all of sudden. His boyish face is now marred by the shadows and a few shallow wrinkles are now visible. What is he thinking? What makes him so serious? So unlike to the Clark she knows.

I don't know when I got up from my desk. When did I walk the the whole distance between my desk and his office's door? How long did I stay watching him? Really watching him. He knows I'm there but he doesn't looks at me only stares Jason's rhythmically breathing body. He opens his mouth but whatever he wanted to say is just a moment lost in time.

He rubs his left arm with his right palm still focused on my son's sleeping figure. Then the palm covers his heart and continues the rubbing.

"Heartache" he whispers not wanting to wake up the child and that only worries me. He smiles. Always a smile there.

"Stress. New responsibilities. I never thought- Leaving?" he realises quickly that it's time for me to leave.

Jason doesn't want to wake up. And neither of the adults really want to disturb him. It's one of the few times I don't hear him whimper or cry in his sleep. He feels safe. Safe to the most unexpected place. Clark understands. We've been talking a little after Richard's departure. After Superman's Return.

The irony?

When my world collapses I find support on a geek with glasses. I feel sorry for his future girlfriend or even wife, if there is ever going to be one. Then again I envy her for what she will receive from this man eventually. Trust, honesty, love, truth. I just hope to deserve him.

We walk side by side in the street with Jason in his arms but still he hasn't said a word. I don't think that he needs to say anything. He just puts my boy in the car and waves to me while I go back home.

"I'll walk" he assures me before I leave him despite my objections and my offer to give him a quick lift.

Finally, I'm at home rather quickly.

My whole body hurts as I carry Jason in the house and the missing heel is now a forgotten hostage of the lawn for one more night. I try to open the door and not knowing how the door opens. Someone up there loves me. And I know that He is not the only one when I hear my baby whisper Clark's name smiling in his sleep.

Before I finally go to bed I accidentally trip on that damn rag again. This time I fall hard and my hand hits the floor. I'm too emotionally and physically fatigued that I don't have the courage not even to cry from the radiating pain anymore. My left wrist payed the price this week. I curled up on the floor thinking the good stuff of the week that passed. My dinner. Jason. The Mayor's Expose. Clark.

I giggle remembering how he had fallen from the stairs yesterday. No injuries thank God! He would be such a big baby if he had any. The tie diving in his black coffee or the pen leak in his pocket two days before. That had really startled him. My wrist hurts but not so bad to call for *him*. Never again. It doesn't takes me long to drift to sleep and even though I hear a familiar swoop out side my window my body surrenders to

morpheus on the hard but not so cold anymore floor.

I don't see a man in a primary colour suit checking me. Us. I don't hear the bougainvillea outside my window catching a very familiar red cape or the under-breath swearing from a well known voice. He is ready to to guard the world again tonight away from us but something catch his attention the last minute. A breathless minute. A diary entry is still on my laptop's glowing screen.

_A promise long broken has found a swell keeper. Always around._

**The End**


End file.
